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Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer’s 2014 Report Card

Senior Senator from New York
Democrat
Serving Jan 6, 1999 – Jan 3, 2029


These statistics cover Schumer’s record during the 113th Congress (Jan 3, 2013-Jan 2, 2015) and compare him to other senators also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 12, 2015. Although Rep. Suzan DelBene [D-WA1], Rep. Thomas Massie [R-KY4], Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ10], and Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI] served in the 112th Congress, they took office within the last two months of the 112th Congress and here are grouped with other freshmen for the 113th Congress.

A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Schumer’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.

Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.

 

Held the most committee positions compared to All Senators

Schumer held a leadership position on 3 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. For comparison to other Members of Congress, we assigned a score giving five points for each full committee leadership position and one point for each subcommittee leadership position. View Schumer’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Democrats (98th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); All Senators (99th percentile).


 

Cosponsored the 3rd most bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Schumer cosponsored 317 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (93rd percentile); Senate Democrats (79th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); All Senators (87th percentile).


 

Ranked 4th most politically left compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 113th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Schumer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (7th percentile); Senate Democrats (19th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (9th percentile); All Senators (11th percentile).


 

Was 5th most present in votes compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)

Schumer missed 0.2% of votes (1 of 657 votes) in the 113th Congress. View Schumer’s Profile »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (7th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (6th percentile); All Senators (4th percentile).


 

Wrote the 5th most laws compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Schumer introduced 4 bills that became law in the 113th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: S. 1512: A bill to designate the …; S. 1689: Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification …; S. 2101: A bill to amend the …; S. 2661: A bill to designate the …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (88th percentile); Senate Democrats (92nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (91st percentile); All Senators (93rd percentile).

A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.


 

Joined bipartisan bills the 6th least often compared to Serving 10+ Years

Of the 317 bills that Schumer cosponsored, 16% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (10th percentile); Senate Democrats (19th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (9th percentile); All Senators (10th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.


 

Got bicameral support on the 7th most bills compared to Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 14 of Schumer’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the House. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: S. 324: Puerto Rico Medicare Part B …; S. 501: Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Reauthorization …; S. 728: Tax Parity for Health Plan …; S. 842: Rural Hospital Access Act of …; S. 1008: Keep Knives Out of Our …; S. 1115: Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification …; S. 1318: HELLPP Act; S. 1480: A bill to amend the …; S. 1535: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism …; S. 1689: Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification …; S. 1882: A bill to amend the …; S. 2101: A bill to amend the …; S. 2386: Avonte’s Law Act of 2014; S. 2661: A bill to designate the …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (83rd percentile); Senate Democrats (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (78th percentile); All Senators (79th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.


 

Got their bills out of committee the 7th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 2 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Schumer introduced 13 bills in the 113th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: S. 374: Fix Gun Checks Act of …; S. 744: Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and …; S. 921: Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe …; S. 987: Free Flow of Information Act …; S. 1512: A bill to designate the …; S. 1535: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism …; S. 1937: Elections Preparedness Requires Early Planning …; S. 2244: Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization …; S.Res. 43: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …; S.Res. 64: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …; S.Res. 228: An original resolution authorizing the …; S.Res. 229: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …; S.Res. 253: An original resolution authorizing expenditures …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (88th percentile); Senate Democrats (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (89th percentile); All Senators (91st percentile).


 

Introduced the 9th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 1 other)

Schumer introduced 67 bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (85th percentile); Senate Democrats (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); All Senators (90th percentile).


 

Supported government transparency the 8th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 8 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Schumer supported any of 8 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the Senate that we identified in this session. We gave Schumer 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Schumer cosponsored S. 375: Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act; S. 405: Sunshine in the Courtroom Act …; S. 1130: Ending Secret Law Act

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (83rd percentile); Senate Democrats (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (83rd percentile); All Senators (84th percentile).


 

Ranked the 19th top leader compared to All Senators

Our unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 113th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Schumer’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (78th percentile); Senate Democrats (68th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (74th percentile); All Senators (81st percentile).


 

Got the 21st most cosponsors on their bills compared to All Senators

Schumer’s bills and resolutions had 342 cosponsors in the 113th Congress. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills »

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (76th percentile); Senate Democrats (66th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); All Senators (79th percentile).


 

Powerful Cosponsors

5 of Schumer’s bills and resolutions in the 113th Congress had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward.

Those bills were: S. 728: Tax Parity for Health Plan …; S. 921: Raechel and Jacqueline Houck Safe …; S. 987: Free Flow of Information Act …; S. 1535: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism …; S. 2244: Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization …

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (51st percentile); Senate Democrats (47th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); All Senators (58th percentile).


 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Schumer tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 33% of Schumer’s 67 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 113th Congress.

Compare to all Senate Cmte. Chairs/RkMembs (54th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (53rd percentile); Senate Democrats (47th percentile); All Senators (56th percentile).

Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.


Additional Notes

Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.

Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).

Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.

Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of the 113th Congress) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.